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Tuesday, April 8, 2008

I finally called the rheumatologist today about my Plaquenil side effects. I was actually just looking for a 'script for some anti-nausea medicine, but the nurse asked for all my side effects, so I gave her the long list.

She then consulted the doc and called me back later. He wants me to stop taking the Plaquenil completely for one week, and then resume but instead of taking three 200 mg tablets a day (all at the same time), I'm to take one in the morning and one in the evening.

We'll see how that works. I'm pretty sure that the reason I was able to tolerate it better this time around than the first time, when I only lasted 10 days, is because I switched from taking it in the morning to taking it in the evening. I learned that trick when I was pregnant; if I took my prenatal vitamins in the morning, I threw them up but if I took them in the evening, I slept through the nausea they caused. (Not that I didn't have plenty of nausea all through that pregnancy ... but at least the prenatals didn't get thrown up still whole and recognizable when I took them at night.)

Anyway, we'll see. A break for a week from the extra symptoms will be nice. Last time around, they stopped within 24 hours of the first missing dose. So I should feel a little better tomorrow. Maybe.

***

I'm not entirely sure what's up. I slept relatively well last night, at least for how well I sleep these days, but I was still so exhausted today that I slept from 10 a.m. until Scott called at 4:20 p.m. to say he and Ellie were on their way home. (Other than getting woken up for a few brief telephone calls ...)

And I'm still tired enough that it feels like it won't be any problem to sleep tonight, although we'll see about that. :)